Permission to Drive After You Receive a DUI

Once you have been charged with Driving Under the Influence (DUI) your driver’s license will be suspended for a period of 6 months to 3 years. The suspension starts approximately 46 days after the day of your arrest. What determines the length of suspension is whether this is your first or second DUI and whether you submitted to a breath test.

If this is your first DUI and you submitted to a breath test, your suspension will last for 6 months. If you refused the breath test, your suspension is for 1 year.

If this is your second DUI (within 5 years of the first DUI) and you submitted to a breath test, your suspension is 1 year. If you refused the breath test, your suspension is 3 years.

The day after your DUI arrest you can still drive a car. The actual suspension does not take effect until the 46th day after the day of your DUI arrest. On the back of the document “Notice of Statutory Summary Suspension” that the officer likely gave you, will be your “Receipt to Drive.” In effect, this sheet of paper is your new driver’s license.

Permission to drive after a DUI was originally only possible with a Judicial Driving Permit, (JDP).

A Judicial Driving Permit is a court order by the Judge to the Secretary of State to issue you a driver’s license to allow you to drive to work and back home. JDP’s were also valid to drive during your working day, if you were required to drive for your job or drive from job site to job site. JDP have been replaced with a BAIID Permit.

The BAIID Permit is a permit issued by the Illinois Secretary of State which allows you to drive during a part of your suspension. The permit is valid after you have been suspended for 30 days. Unlike the prior JDP, here the DUI judge has no say on whether you will receive the permit. The Secretary of State took the power away from the DUI judge because some judges would never issue a JDP permit or a BAIID permit.

Under the BAIID Permit, you will be required to have installed a BAIID, breath test machine in your vehicle. Once installed, when you want to start your car, you will have to provide a breath sample to prove that you have not alcohol on your breath. Further, once your car is running and your driving, the BAIID device will require you to provide further samples (rolling tests).

The only way to avoid installing the BAIID device is to have the Statutory Summary Suspension rescinded. Because the Statutory Summary Suspension took your driver’s license away, removing the Statutory Summary Suspension will reinstate your license.